Mortality Rates Higher in Young Men

Published Online: Sunday, May 1, 2005

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Younger men face greater risk of death if they
have sleep apnea. The study assessed the survival
rates of 14,000 men between 20 and 93
years old over a 10-year period for possible
sleep apnea. The researchers at Technion-
Israel Institut of Technology saw 372 deaths
during a follow-up of 4.6 years.

The researchers found that among participants
with a respiratory disturbance index (RDI)
score >30, only men between 20 and 29 years
old had a much higher mortality, compared with
their counterparts in the general population.
The investigators also conducted an additional
test on 1909 patients with severe sleep apnea.
This group had RDI scores >50 and an average
of 73 respiratory events per hour of sleep. Of
this group, 95 died during follow-up.

Reporting in the European Respiratory Journal
(March 2005), the researchers learned that the
mortality rate for men in their 20s was 10 times
greater in the severe sleep apnea group, compared
with the general population. Men 30 to 39
years old and 40 to 49 years old had mortality
rates >3 times and nearly 2 times higher, respectively.
For men 50 years of age and older, the
condition did not have a higher mortality risk.